Chapter 41: Ace and Whitebeard's Battle
Faced with a devastating punch from Whitebeard's Gura Gura no Mi, the three main fighters of the Spade Pirates reacted immediately.
"Kagami Hibashira!"
"Fubuki no Shimohei!"
"Doton: Doryūheki!"
First came Ace's wall of fire, but against the massive tsunami caused by Whitebeard's tremor ability, it only produced steam before being completely overpowered—after all, fire is naturally weak against seawater.
Next, Yamato exhaled a blast of icy wind. While not a Hie Hie no Mi (Ice-Ice Fruit) user like Aokiji, she still managed to freeze a significant portion of the tsunami. Yet, it wasn't enough to stop all of it—some of the watery aftermath still surged forward.
Finally, Ayaan raised an Earth Flow Wall, empowered by his chakra reserves that were nearly at Kage-level. With this boost, the wall grew nearly ten times its normal size and managed to block the rest of the tsunami's force.
As for the rest of the Spade Pirates, they stood back, yelling "Let's go, Captain!" but doing little else besides avoiding the deadly waves.
---
"Gurararara... What a lively bunch of rookies."
Whitebeard leapt from the deck of the Moby Dick, walking slowly toward them with Marco, Jinbei, and several division commanders following closely behind.
"What do we do?" Ayaan said casually to Ace. "I don't think we have a real shot, whether it's one-on-one or all-out war. Should we just surrender?"
"How can we give up so easily?" Ace grinned. "I'll take on Whitebeard. You two support me—gather intel on their formations."
Ayaan nodded right away. Reconnaissance sounded a lot better than getting turned into a pulp by the Whitebeard commanders.
While Ayaan's strength rivaled that of an average division commander, he didn't stand much of a chance against monsters like Marco the Phoenix, Diamond Jozu, or Vista the Flower Sword. And with seven or eight division commanders accompanying Whitebeard, rushing forward would only end with him becoming a punching bag.
Yamato, on the other hand, looked thrilled—clearly excited to see Whitebeard's crew in person, perhaps because of what she had read in Oden's journals or simply from her fighting spirit. But since Ace had spoken, she respected his decision and stayed back.
So Ace stepped forward alone.
Whitebeard's "sons" didn't interfere. Even though they worried about their father's health, none of them dared fight beside him. Whitebeard was too proud to accept help when facing a promising rookie like Ace.
And despite his declining health, Whitebeard was still overwhelmingly powerful—his commanders had absolute confidence in him.
As everyone focused on the tense face-off, only Ayaan's gaze drifted toward the rear of Whitebeard's crew, where a dark-skinned, chubby man sat happily eating cherry pie.
---
The battle began when Ace, unable to wait, launched the first attack. But just after a few exchanges, he was coughing blood. The Whitebeard Pirates assumed Whitebeard was holding back, which made sense—he didn't want to crush the young man outright.
"Enjin: Shiranui!" (Divine Flame: Phosphorous Fire!)
Ace released twin lances of intense blue fire, but they barely fazed Whitebeard. The old man's Armament Haki and Gura Gura no Mi powers worked in tandem to distort and shatter the flames with shockwaves.
Ayaan watched intently. "So even Whitebeard's Haki has shockwave attributes because of his fruit... If your attacks aren't condensed and focused, they just shatter."
With a casual punch, Whitebeard sent Ace flying over ten meters. Blood dripping from his lips, Ace got back up, gasping, "Is this what a Yonko is like...? A monster…"
Yamato clenched her fists, ready to jump in, but Marco appeared before her with a calm smile, silently warning her not to interfere.
Ayaan remained still, but he could feel the wary eyes of other division commanders locked onto him.
Then Ace thrust his arm out and created a wall of fire to shield the rest of the crew.
"Ayaan, Yamato—get the crew and retreat!"
"Ace!"
"Just go!" Ace's tone was firm.
Yamato wasn't the type to retreat, but Deuce, ever the strategist, gritted his teeth and quickly whispered to the others, "We'll circle around and hit the Moby Dick from behind once we're onboard our ship."
It wasn't a bad idea. With enough distraction, they could cause serious damage. But in the world of One Piece, power outweighs tactics—unless your strength is comparable, strategy only buys you time.
---
As Deuce led the retreat, Ayaan's sharp senses caught movement behind the fire wall—Blackbeard was finally on the move.
"So... the rat crawls out of his hole," Ayaan thought.
Ten minutes later, Deuce and the remaining crew reached another shore—only to find themselves intercepted by Whitebeard Pirates.
"Damn! They anticipated us..." Deuce cursed. But his eyes lit up in hope when he saw only an ordinary-looking, chubby man among the enemy—no high-ranking commanders.
Unfortunately, that "ordinary fat man" was Marshall D. Teach—Blackbeard.
Within moments, Deuce and the others were beaten senseless by Blackbeard and the so-called "miscellaneous" soldiers.
Despite their appearance, the men on the Moby Dick were no pushovers. Even the lowest-ranking crewmates were elites—equivalent to Navy headquarters' lieutenants or Four Sea captains with tens of millions in bounty.
As for Teach? Though he hadn't yet consumed the Yami Yami no Mi (Dark-Dark Fruit), his raw strength alone placed him among the top five division commander-level fighters in Whitebeard's crew.
Even if the entire Spade Pirates worked together, they couldn't last more than a couple of minutes against a serious Blackbeard.